Kon Chen Temple

Located north of Prey Veng village and south of Tel Village in Preah Vihear province, Prasat Kon Chen (also known as Pr. Kon Chin) is a small temple site related to the nearby grand temple of Phnom Sandak. It’s a building type that the French researchers from the early 1900s would label “Palais” and features the remains of an outer enclosure wall, that opens to the east, containing a “u” shaped gallery fronted by an elongated building with a peristyle at either end. The site is overgrown and inaccessible in parts but clear on its northwest side where these shots were taken.

As mentioned here, it’s an unusual building layout, one that is seen nearby major temple sites of the 10-11th centuries. I am sure that new research will shed more light on their original function be that as a palace, ashrama, guest lodge, or something not yet even considered.

As mentioned, it is an annex building of the larger Phnom Sandak temple which is located just 700m north across the east-west ridge, please see that site for a description of the general location and the journey there. Also, around 550m south-southwest of this site is Prasat Kei.

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Rodney Charles LHuillier

Living in Asia for over a decade and now residing in beautiful Siem Reap. Rodney Charles L'Huillier has spent over seven years in Cambodia and is the author of Ancient Cambodia (2024) and Essential Siem Reap (2017, 2019). Contact via [email protected] - more..